Alexander John Randall, Baron Randall of Uxbridge, (born 5 August 1955) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

from

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and for Uxbridge and South Ruislip until

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, before being awarded a life peerage in 2018. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Government Deputy Chief Whip from May 2010 and October 2013, as well as Environment Adviser to

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

from 2017 to 2019. Lord Randall is a trustee and Vice-Chair of the Human Trafficking Foundation and in February 2016 was appointed Special Envoy on modern slavery to the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

, alongside Anthony Steen.

Early life

Randall's family have lived in Uxbridge for many years. The family owned the major local department store Randalls of Uxbridge on Vine Street, which was founded by his great-grandfather Philip Randall in 1891, and closed in 2015. Born in

, Randall was educated at Rutland House School, an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...

in the west of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

and at Merchant Taylors' School in Moor Park, Hertfordshire. In 1979, he graduated from the

School of Slavonic and East European Studies The UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES ) is a University College London#Faculties and departments, school of University College London (UCL) specializing in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and South-Easte ...

(which is now part of

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

) with an Upper Second Class Honours BA degree in

Serbo-Croatian language Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutuall ...

and literature. Randall later became managing director of Randall's and one of three shareholders in the business. In 1994, he became Honorary Treasurer of Uxbridge Conservative Association, which later elected him Chairman. He announced in 2014 that the family store would close, citing decreased turnover and competition from online shopping as causes. Speaking about the closure, he criticised other employers for using zero-hours contracts to cut their costs.

Parliamentary career

House of Commons

Randall was elected Member of Parliament for

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

following the death of Sir Michael Shersby in the wake of the Labour Party's

landslide election victory. Randall had been an

election agent An election agent is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is sent by those running the election. The term is most used in elections in the United Kingdom, as well as some ...

for Shersby throughout the 1997 General Election campaign. He became the first Conservative candidate to win a parliamentary by-election since the party's recently elected leader

William Hague William Jefferson Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond (born 26 March 1961) is a British politician and life peer who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2001 and Deputy Leader from 2005 to 2010. He was th ...

's victory in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

in 1989. During his political career he has sat on the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Select Committee and its Environment Sub-Committee. He is strongly against the

expansion of Heathrow Airport The expansion of Heathrow Airport is a series of proposals to add to the runways at London's busiest airport beyond its two long runways which are intensively used to serve four terminals and a large cargo operation. The plans are those present ...

. In 1999 he was appointed as an Opposition Whip, but, due to his opposition to Britain's involvement in the Iraq War, he resigned as a matter of conscience in March 2003. He was later reappointed as a Whip in 2003. At the end of 2005 he was promoted to Conservative Assistant Chief Whip. In 2010 he was appointed the joint Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of Her Majesty's Household in the

Coalition Government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

. He was appointed as a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

on 9 June 2010. He resigned from the government with praise to

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

on 6 October 2013, amid a cabinet reshuffle. On 21 October 2013 it was announced that he was to receive a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

, having the accolade bestowed by

The Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

on 12 February 2014. On 10 July 2014, Randall announced that he would not be standing as a parliamentary candidate for the seat at the 2015 general election.

House of Lords

On 18 May 2018, it was announced he would be elevated to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. On 25 June, he was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Randall of Uxbridge, of Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon.

Outside Parliament

In February 2016 he was appointed Special Envoy on Modern Slavery to the

, alongside Anthony Steen CBE. He is President of the Colne Valley Regional Park.

Personal life

Lord Randall married Katherine Frances Gray in 1986; the couple have two sons and a daughter. Randall is a keen supporter of Uxbridge Football Club and Saracens Rugby Club.

References

External links

John Randall MP
Official website
Biography
House of Lords website
John Randall General Election 2010
Campaign site for Uxbridge and South Ruislip Constituency

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/john_randall/uxbridge_and_south_ruislip TheyWorkForYou.com – John Randall MP* {{DEFAULTSORT:Randall, John 1955 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Alumni of University College London Alumni of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies Alumni of the University of London UK MPs 2010–2015 Knights Bachelor Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Uxbridge